About this Report

This report describes the IRS’s approach to piloting Direct File and a preliminary overview of

what was learned. The report has six sections. While no decision has been made about the

future of Direct File, the report identifies opportunities for improvement that reflect lessons

learned from the pilot and should be considered for any future iteration.

Section I describes the pilot itself. Modern product development best practices recommend

starting small and growing over time. This concept was foundational both to the product’s

limited scope and to how it was rolled out incrementally to taxpayers over the course of the

filing season. The results provide an evidence base for future decisions while also ensuring

that the investment provides immediate value to taxpayers.

Each of the next three sections reassesses an operational challenge identified in the Report to

Congress. Section II looks at the implementation of the Direct File product, the opinions of

taxpayers who participated in the pilot, and what was learned building the underlying

technology. Section III explores how the IRS provided integrated customer support via live

chat. And Section IV explores state taxes and whether state filing needs presented a barrier to

adoption.

Section V appraises the costs of the pilot. Full cost estimation of a potential expansion of

Direct File in filing season 2025 remains incomplete, and key data to assess the benefits of

Direct File will become available and be provided later this year.

The final section identifies next steps that will continue over the course of fiscal year 2024 to

complete IRS’s assessment of the Direct File pilot.

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